The Gulag
by Arc Trader
Summary: ME done Modern Warfare style. Alternate beginning to ME3. As the Reapers invade the galaxy, the crew of the Normandy vows to save their leader from batarian hands. "Commander Shepard is the piece of meat the Reapers want. So let's cut him loose."


How much could change in a week?

One week ago, John Shepard had been transferred from Alliance custody to batarian jurisdiction. One week ago, the galaxy's first human Spectre had apparently been condemned to live out the rest of his days in a rotting prison if not tortured to death by his captors. One week ago, the crew of a certain independent stealth frigate had made a vow to do whatever it took to get their commander back.

And then the Reapers came.

* * *

><p>Admiral Steven Hackett looked over the assembled crew of the <em>SR-2 Normandy<em> on the CIC as he brought up images from the galaxy map in front of him. Dozens of star systems were colored bright red: instances of burning. Worlds from all areas of the galaxy: the Asari Republics, the Turian Hierarchy, the Salarian Union, and the Terminus Systems. And despite all the damage done to those respective powers, the heaviest damage being done was to dozens of affiliated and independent humans colonies as Reapers spread everywhere across the galaxy. But only one area of the galaxy interested him at the moment: the Batarian Hegemony, in the Skyllian Verge, where the Reapers had made their entry into the Milky Way.

Where humanity's first Spectre, Lieutenant Commander John Shepard was.

"We have a mission to take care of," said Hackett as he gazed over the diverse crew. You know as well as I do that the galaxy is under attack. The Alliance is spread thin trying to defend itself, and so is every other galactic power. The Citadel has been locked down and the combined fleet is ready to defend it. Arcturus Station is on full alert and all our fleets are fully engaged. And despite everything we're doing, we're losing. We haven't even managed to kill a single Reaper, and there are thousands of them. Fortunately, the bulk of their force is currently in batarian space; their other attacks consist of no more than two to three Reapers hitting other locations."

He waved at the galaxy map, and it zoomed in on the Hegemony's borders. "The Reapers entered batarian space five days ago. They immediately began cutting a swath through batarian forces, intent on securing a Mass Relay. They managed to do exactly that. Our best intelligence estimates that over 2 million batarians are dead so far, and that number could be a hundred times higher if not for the fact that they were so focused on getting to a Relay that they didn't bother to hit any population centers outside of their main flight path. The batarians are throwing everything they've got at the Reapers. It's done nothing but give them a lot of scrap metal to clean up."

He paused. "Until now, that is." He zoomed in on a section of space: a slice of planets that bordered the Terminus Systems and batarian space.

"The Special Intervention Unit has deployed the Leviathan of Dis against the Reaper fleet right here on Terminus borders. Just like we all suspected, the Hegemony did indeed recover the wreck in 2163 and took it back to Khar'shan. They've spent the last 25 years repairing it and fitting enough weapons and armor on that thing to destroy an entire planet. And so far, it's working. The Leviathan is giving the Reapers hell: the Reaper fleet at this location is actually being stalled. The batarians don't have the firepower to actually kill a Reaper, but at the same time, the Reapers are having a hard time destroying the Leviathan as well; being a living ship, it possesses incredible regenerative abilities. But even with the Leviathan, the intelligence I've received indicates that it won't hold the Reapers much longer: if they amass a large enough force together, they'll be able to cut the Leviathan to shreds."

"A question, if I may," spoke up Miranda. "Where exactly is this intelligence coming from? The batarians are one of the most difficult governments to infiltrate: Cerberus has been trying for years to build an active intelligence network within their ranks and never succeeded."

Hackett regarded her for a moment before he answered. "All this comes direct from the Shadow Broker. With the Reaper attack, I've managed to send in scout probes as well to independently verify what I'm getting. It all checks out." The answer seemed to satisfy the crew; Tali and Garrus fidgeted nervously, both wondering what exactly their old friend Liara had gotten herself into.

The galaxy map changed and brought up an image of the batarian homeworld Khar'shan, where it then zoomed in onto a seemingly barren peninsula in a sparsely inhabited area of the main continent as Hackett continued his briefing. "What all this means is that we have an opportunity. The Shadow Broker also fed me intelligence that gave us Commander Shepard's location: he's being held in an old fortress on the outskirts of the capital city's borders. And we need to get him out of there."

Garrus was the first to speak up. "So what's the plan? Rush in, snatch him while the batarians and Reapers fight it out, and blast out of there?"

"Essentially, yes," answered Hackett. "The batarians are in a state of absolute chaos at the moment. Their leaders have all been evacuated off of Khar'shan and are making for secondary command centers well away from the Reaper advance, near the Terminus Systems: that's what the Leviathan is defending. The defense fleets at Khar'shan are getting torn up by the Reapers. The prison itself should be reduced to a skeleton crew at best. With all this going in our favor, the Normandy should be able to jump in system, get down to the surface and launch a team to hit the prison and get Shepard out. But…"

He moved to play a recording on his omni-tool. "There's another reason to get Shepard out of there. One of our advance scouts caught this on one of our colonies that is currently under attack by the largest Reaper force outside of batarian space: we have nearly 80 Reapers hitting a single colony. Listen to this." He hit the key, and a very familiar booming voice played out.

"**LOCATE SHEPARD NO MATTER WHAT THE COST. PRESERVE HIS BODY IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. HE MUST BE FOUND."**

"Harbinger," whispered Tali.

"The Reapers are searching for Shepard," said Hackett. "If you noticed on the map, the Reapers are most heavily concentrated in Alliance space. There are more Reapers attacking humanity than all other Council and non-Council races combined: as you heard from that recording, they are deadly serious about finding Shepard. If we can get him, we may be able to direct where the Reapers attack if they're so focused on finding him: essentially using him as bait for our enemy. We need to be fast about this: current projections indicate they're trying to get to a relay that connects to the Charon Relay: once they do, Earth will be easy pickings for them."  
>"I can't see Shepard being too pleased with that," said Tali.<p>

"He doesn't have a choice," said Hackett. "They're going to hunt him down no matter what, we need to use every opportunity we can get. There's also the fact that Shepard has become a symbol of unity to a lot of people in the galaxy. That's what we need right now: unity, or we'll all be crushed under the Reapers. We cannot afford to lose him. Unfortunately, time is not on our side."

He closed his omni-tool. "The Shadow Broker has also forwarded me a recording of a high-level meeting among the batarian government. Again, I don't know how he got this data, but the batarians actually consider Shepard to be an agent of the Reapers. They believe the destruction of the Alpha Relay was the opening shot to weaken the Hegemony against the Reaper invasion. If they execute him as an enemy agent, it's over. The only hope I can see is that the Reaper invasion has disrupted the chain of command so badly that they haven't been able to issue those orders to the prison."

"So let's get moving, then, and break him out of there," said Jack as she pumped a fist. "We don't have time to waste."

"Agreed. The _Normandy's_ hangar will be getting some new equipment for this mission. We'll have fighter support and a few Mantis gunships to make the insertion and then extraction, pilots and fireteams on loan from the Alliance. Finally, I will be taking command of the _Normandy_ until Commander Shepard is recovered. I've read all your profiles, I know what you're capable of. Lawson, you'll remain onboard as XO. Vakarian, I want you to put together a team that can hit the prison hard and fast and get out of there as smoothly as possible. We leave for Khar'shan within the hour."

* * *

><p>Garrus checked the scope on his Mantis rifle again as the gunship he was in continued to cruise towards the prison. Getting the <em>Normandy<em> into Khar'shan's airspace had been easier than expected because of a shocking development that had occurred upon entering the atmosphere: the Reapers had dozens of their own all over the surface of the planet and were currently tearing their way through everything in their path. The batarian defense fleet in orbit was nothing but a flaming wreck; the SIU was throwing every single ground force they had available at the Reapers on the ground. It was going as well as expected: in other words, not at all.

But there was no time to worry about that. The prison was only a few minutes out. Garrus had given a lot of consideration for the team. Jacob was piloting the gunship; his experience as a Corsair captain had left him adequately qualified for that task. Tali was in charge of hacking any prison security systems as soon as they gained control of the guard center, Grunt and Zaeed would be her bodyguards as she did so. When he had brought up the issue of payment to the mercenary, the grizzled old man had merely replied, "Hitting the batarian capital? I'd do it for free."

The team in charge of locating and rescuing Shepard would consist of himself, Jack, and Legion: Jack for her experience in being in prisons and Legion in case they ran into any off-the-grid computer systems that Tali couldn't access; having a teammate who wouldn't be impaired by dark environments would be helpful as well.

Thane, Samara, and Kasumi were in the Mantis next to his, providing fire support for the small Alliance N7 team that would be combing a different section of the prison. Mordin was standing by on the _Normandy _ready to deliver emergency medical care as soon as everyone returned.

As the prison drew nearer, Garrus decided to pass the time by talking a bit about the prison, which Liara had been kind enough to give him a briefing packet of. "This prison's been standing for over 2,000 years," he began. "The batarians initially used it as a fortress when they would wage global wars against each other. Over the past few centuries, as batarian national wars became less and less frequent, the Hegemony government began using it as a place to hold prisoners that they wanted to get rid of but couldn't kill. A celebrated human Spectre sounds like he'd fit that criteria pretty well."

A pair of Alliance fighters flew in close and matched speeds with the four Mantis gunships on approach. "Anyway, thirty seconds out. Everyone get ready."

The shoreline below would have been a beautiful place to retire to if not for the heavy anti-aircraft guns placed against a cliff wall. "_Arrow One-One, we have eyes on AA emplacements_," said one of the pilots of the Alliance fighters. "_Missiles away_."

A pair of ASMs launched from both Alliance fighters as they peeled away. The missiles streaked in hot and blew both AA guns to shreds. "_You are clear for approach to the prison. Happy hunting_."

"Thanks, Arrow Lead," acknowledged Jacob as he brought the gunship up. "OK, snipers standby!"

"Well, that's our cue," grunted Garrus as he brought the rifle to his shoulder. Zaeed and Legion crouched next to him as they racked their weapons.

Grunt let out a low growl. "Hurry up so we can get in close and fight like true warriors. Distance killing is for cowards."

"You'll get your action soon, Grunt," muttered Tali as she loaded her shotgun.

"_We are on approach to the prison_," said the pilot of the gunship carrying Thane, Samara, and Kasumi. _"Guns, guns, guns._"

The other Mantis immediately opened up with a barrage of rotary gunfire on the various towers and emplacements of the prison. Batarian guards went down, not at all expecting the surprise attack.

"Stabilize!" called Garrus. Jacob did as ordered, bringing the Mantis to a standstill. "All snipers engage!"

The resounding cracks of sniper fire emanated from the trio as they mowed down any batarians that the gunships had missed. Within seconds, the tower and its walkways were clear.

"All hostiles neutralized," said Garrus. "Shift right."

"Shifting!" called Jacob as he pulled the gunship to the right, the snipers taking a moment to clear out overheated thermal clips. Another round of fire began as a batarian pulled a tarmac off of a heavy AA missile turret. Garrus's shot caught the blink in the forehead and he dropped. Just as fast as before, the next tower was quickly cleared of guards. "There are four on the next tower," reported Legion.

Just as Garrus dropped his sights over them, the entire tower blew into a plume of smoke and fire as a missile impacted. Arrow Lead whooshed by the Mantis, its proximity setting off alarms in the interior.

"Hackett, call the fighters off!" snapped Garrus. "That was too damn close for comfort!"

"Copy that," said Hackett over the comm. "The _Normandy_ is nearly there as well. The pilots are a bit trigger-happy when it comes to blowing things up."

"And I thought they were supposed to be the good guys," grumbled Tali in the back.

"All right, everybody cut the chatter," crackled Jacob's voice over the radio. "Looks like most AA resistance has been cleared out, so we're touching down."

"Finally!" exclaimed Grunt.

The two Mantises maneuvered into the center of the prison courtyard and dropped off their squads, everyone immediately fanning out to secure the area as the gunships moved off. Almost instantly, batarian prison guards poured out of the main entrance and moved to engage.

"This is Dagger Two-One, I've got targets." The second Mantis that had dropped off soldiers had yet to leave the courtyard and moved to spray the batarians with gunfire and missiles. The few survivors were quickly taken care of by the massed Alliance troops.

"All right, Team One is on me," said Garrus as Jack and Legion moved to his side. "Team Two, stay close to us until we've got the prison's security center cleared." Tali nodded as Zaeed and Grunt moved to cover her. "Team Three, who's in charge there?"

An Alliance captain stepped forward and confirmed. "The blueprints we have of this place indicate there is a secondary cell block on the other end. We'll sweep that area and make sure they haven't moved Shepard around."

Garrus nodded. "Everyone has their assignments. Let's move out."

Team One and Two crouched near the main entrance of the prison, the dim lighting not helping much. "Legion, take point." The synthetic moved up and swept its Widow anti-materiel rifle around the hallway. It suddenly paused and fired. The cry of a batarian echoed in the hall as he dropped.

"Area clear."

"Everyone move up."

The two teams quickly moved through the reception area, which in days long past may have been a place where officers waited to move into the deeper areas of the structure when it had been a fortress. They soon came into a large circular chamber which stretched deep underground. "These must have once been barracks for the fortress," said Garrus as he swept the area. "Obviously they were repurposed to be cells."

The team stepped across a narrow bridge that led to a security station. "This looks like the main hub for this area," said Tali as she pulled up a chair and began hacking into the consoles. "Give me a second and I'll be in their system."

"All right, stick to the plan," said Garrus as he kicked open a door to a staircase that led downwards. "Zaeed and Grunt, cover Tali and make sure nobody retakes this security hub. Jack, Legion with me, we're on cell duty."

"Fuck," snarled Jack as she moved up with him. "Never imagined I'd ever be breaking _into_ a prison and not out of one."

"Stow it Jack, and tell me something useful. Where do you think they'd keep Shepard?"

"Guy like him, different from the rest of the general population and convicted mass murderer? They'd do the same that was done to me: he'll be in solitary. I doubt he'll be in any of these cells."

They made it down another floor before trouble flared up. "Archangel-Vakarian, enemy forces are approaching from all directions," called Legion as it began firing.

"Yeah, we've got company too!" yelled Zaeed as he and Grunt opened up on the forces that were hitting the security station.

"Talk to me Tali! Where is Shepard?"

"Just hang on, I'm accessing the prisoner records… Jack is right, Garrus, the warden had Shepard moved to solitary confinement yesterday. It's at the very bottom of the cell block and down a narrow hallway." A sudden _clack_ sounded in the room and a beam of light lit up ahead of Garrus's team. "Ha! No defenses, but I'm using the spotlight to track the enemies ahead of you."

"Good thinking, Tali," said Garrus as he and Jack fired away. As they descended yet another level, a heavy gate stopped them. "Tali, we've got a security gate in the way, give us a hand here." He moved to take cover behind said door as Jack fired away with her shotgun at the closest guards beyond.

"I'm working on it! This hardware is ancient!"

Garrus merely grunted in response as he continued to scope and drop targets illuminated by the searchlight, Legion doing the same. As the seconds ticked by, a heavy creaking sounded… as the door behind them slammed closed.

"Incorrect door," remarked Legion dispassionately as it ejected a spent thermal clip.

"What the fuck are you doing, girl!" snapped Jack as she continued to fire at the prison guards.

"Forget about it!" said Garrus as he ducked behind cover. "Tali, get this door open now!"

The quarian didn't say anything, merely clicked the comm once to show she acknowledged. Inwardly Garrus was stewing over her mistake; this wasn't like her, but it was hardly the time or place to berate her on it. Knowing her, she was blaming herself harder than they could ever hope to do so.

Another five seconds crawled by until the proper door swung open. "OK, Jack, take point and let's go!"

The ex-convict roared and charged, sending a surge of dark energy ahead to clear out the hallway with her biotics. A trio of batarians were lifted and thrown over the railing, screaming as they impacted heavily on the floor four stories below.

Legion moved and swept the hall. "Area clear."

"Good," said Garrus. Up at Team Two's position, the roar of gunfire eventually died down as the prison guards decided that assaulting a fortified position in their own prison wasn't such a good idea.

"We're clear up here," reported Zaeed. "Always did love a good excuse to take down blinks."

"Good fight," agreed Grunt.

"All right," said Garrus. "Keep that position secure and continue to feed us intel. We're going to take a shortcut down." He unwrapped the two lengths of wire at his hip and secured a pair of rappelling cords against an exposed piece of metal against the railing. A rule he'd learned on Omega: always have a quick escape ready.

"Don't need it, scarface," said Jack as she stowed her shotgun and then suddenly leaped off the railing. A dozen feet before hitting the ground, a surge of biotic energy erupted and she landed without incident.

"That's sure convenient," muttered the turian as he and the geth began to rappel down the old-fashioned way. He'd barely made it halfway down when he noticed his private comm beeping at the corner of his visor. "Sorry," murmured Tali quietly into his ear. "I screwed up back there."

"This isn't the time to be talking about it," he answered. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again." Switching back to the open channel, he said, "Anyway, what else can you tell me about the prison?"

"Not much else. I just lost the feed to the solitary confinement area. It appears that it's rather close to the shower and locker rooms, but there is some kind of chamber underneath there, close to an underground river. What an odd prison design."

"Remember this was a fortress before it was a prison," said Garrus as he and Legion touched down on the ground.

"You took your damn time," said Jack. "Anyway, another chamber near the showers? I bet you anything that's where Shepard is."

"You'd better hurry," warned Tali. "I caught a lot of guards heading for that area before I lost the feed. There is also a small dock on the river but it looks pretty empty."

"Interesting. Anyway, we need to move. Tali, if you can't get any video feed from the solitary wing, there's nothing else you can do from there. I want you to take Zaeed and Grunt and get back to the extraction point."

There was a moment's hesitation before she answered. "All right."

"Team Three, have you found anything?"

Thane's voice came over the line. "We have nearly completed our sweep of this prison block. However, our squad leader is dead and we have taken several casualties. I ordered Kasumi and Samara to take the wounded back to the gunship. They're returning to the _Normandy_ now."

"Thane, we think we've located where Shepard is. Finish your sweep and get back to the _Normandy_. Don't spend any longer there than you have to."

"Acknowledged."

Garrus turned to Jack and Legion. "OK, let's move on." As they proceeded, the hallway grew dimmer as they entered into the solitary section. Garrus thumbed on the night-vision mode on his visor as he stepped around a corner before glancing behind him. "Jack, you gonna be OK in this darkness?"

"Relax, big guy," retorted the woman. "I'm not helpless in the dark. I can get a vague sense of where other people with my biotic abilities."

"Good to hear," muttered the ex-vigilante as they pressed onward. Another corner yielded nothing but empty cells. They had just started down a long hallway until Legion spoke up.

"Enemy contact," called the geth as it fired. The heavy AMR bullet tore apart a batarian as it passed through him and pierced the wall. Gunfire erupted from down the hall as the dead batarian's squad returned fire, putting up a torrent of metal.

"Dammit, we can't get through!" said Garrus. "We may need to call for help from our other teams."

"Hold on, boss man," said Jack as she stepped up. "I can create a biotic shield that should deflect enough of the bullets away big enough to cover all of us, kinda like at the Collector base. But it isn't going to last anywhere near as long so make those seconds count."

"All right, Legion, as soon as that shield goes up, we make every shot count, got it?"

"Affirmative."

"Go!" called Jack as she put up the shield. A dozen bullets whizzed off as both Garrus and Legion threw themselves to the ground, bringing up their rifles. Sniper fire cracked as the batarians fell. The few survivors ceased fire and bolted down the hall.

"Nice job, Jack," said Garrus as he picked himself off the ground and raced to check the kills. "Night vision helmets, reinforced armor, M-15 Vindicators. These guys aren't grunts, they're special forces, probably SIU men. We have to pick up the pace, people."

"Ground team, come in immediately, this is Hackett."

"Hackett, this is Vakarian. What's going on?"

"We're running out of time. We have a serious situation topside. We've lost Arrow Lead and his wingmate. One of the Reapers assaulting the city is headed this way. The batarian ground forces are in full retreat from the city and the Reaper is pursuing them to this location, which I assume is a fallback position for the batarians. Team Three has returned to the _Normandy_ and Team Two is holding position at the courtyard until you've retrieved Shepard. I'm sending Team Three's Mantis back to support you. The _Normandy _will hold position downriver further inland. You had better be ready to go because if we're still here when that Reaper hits, we're all dead."

"Copy that, Admiral. We'll make this fast."

A new voice came over the comm. "Garrus, this is EDI. Tali'Zorah has synced her omni-tool with me and has uploaded all the information she downloaded from the prison's security systems. I will be guiding you from here on. Continue down the hall another thirty meters. The shower rooms will be on your left."

"Got it, EDI. You heard her, let's go people!" Following EDI's instructions, the team turned left… and came face to face with a brick wall.

"EDI, what the hell is this?" asked Garrus. "We've got a wall in the way!"

"Structural analysis indicates this wall was erected recently," spoke up Legion before the AI could reply. "Haste and discoloration indicates a weak foundation."

"Never mind then, we're blowing through it. Both of you stand back." Garrus prepped a heavy concussive round into his Mattock's underside launcher and carefully positioned himself to avoid any ricochet.

A roar blasted from his rifle as the round blew through the thin concrete as though it were paper. Time seemed to slow down as the turian charged through the mess of debris and flying splinters into the shower rooms.

Three batarians were on the other side, completely caught off-guard by the surprise attack. They didn't even have time to activate kinetic barriers before they were bullrushed in a few seconds. A volley of fire from Garrus's DSR took out the first enemy, then a blast from Jack's shotgun caught the second in the chest, and finally a no-scope shot from Legion's AMR turned the third batarian's head into a mushy meat pile.

Their reprieve didn't last long. The military mind in Garrus immediately snapped to attention as he began scanning the room looking for possible flanking routes or vulnerable tactical positions. The room was a two story area that had plenty of alcoves built into the wall where prisoners could take their showers. A long wide hallway was in the center, with a series of reinforced lockers forming two rows down.

"Let's move up, use the lockers for cover! Watch for snipers on the upper level!"

"Shit! We've got riot troops!" yelled Jack.

Just as she had said, a squad of SIU troops a half-dozen strong were advancing from the far end of the shower rooms, each one equipped with a riot shield which, on top of that, was further reinforced with heavy kinetic barriers. Out of the corner of his visor, Garrus could also see additional soldiers running along the upper level.

"Jack, hit the riot troops with a shockwave! We need to break up their formation! Legion, you're on sniper duty, down as many of those on top as you can!" As he wrapped up his orders, Garrus loaded another heavy concussive round into his rifle and steadied against his shoulder. A series of biotic explosions rippled along the ground as the riot troops broke into two groups of three to avoid it. The group that darted to the left found itself right in his sights, and he let fly with the explosive.

The blast knocked all three of them on their asses as the former C-Sec cop sprayed them with fire from his assault rifle. Legion was scoring shot for shot on the upper level shooters: they were not prepared to fight a synthetic sniper with a near-perfect accuracy rating on an 86 pound anti-materiel rifle. Jack had abandoned any method of gunplay and was raining biotic blasts upon the other group of riot troops that had been scattered.

The team moved up to hit the second side of the shower rooms. A narrow opening separated the two halves. "Jack, Legion, stack up on either side and prepare to clear the next half." He brought a hand up to his ear. "EDI, patch me through to Tali, I need to talk to her."

A second later, the quarian responded. "What is it, Garrus?"

"How're you holding up?"

"We're doing fine so far. Grunt and Zaeed are keeping the prison guards away from the Mantis. The pilot is anxious to leave soon though; we're getting reports that the retreating batarian military is getting closer. I can see the Reaper that's chasing them! They're a few kilometers away!"

"We need to wrap this up now. Tali, before you lost the video feed, where did you see Shepard's cell block? We're in the showers, there's nothing here."

"I had EDI review the schematics we pulled up. Actually the cell block is one floor below you. It's not actually a cell block, it's a supply storage area but they moved Shepard there because it's isolated. It's also very close to the underground river nearby and connects to the prison's sewer system. Listen for the sound of fast-moving water."

"One floor below us?" said Garrus. "We don't have time to find – " He cut off as an all-too familiar sound occurred.

"Garrus? What is it?"

"Warning: heavy armor unit detected!" said Legion.

"I have to go. We'll talk later, Tali." He disconnected and loaded another concussive round into his rifle. "Jack, Legion, we've got a YMIR heavy mech just waiting for us in the next room. We don't have time to mess with it."

"I can take care of that shit," said Jack. "Keep it distracted for a second and I'll do the rest."

Remembering the convict's explosive escape from Purgatory, Garrus nodded and moved up next to her. "OK, Legion, on my mark, we hit that thing. Jack, as soon as we grab its attention, take it out."

A second passed. "MARK!"

Garrus whirled around the corner and launched the heavy round at the mech. It impacted, causing the mech to stumble a bit even through its shields. A round barked from Legion's AMR and a massive dent appeared its chest armor. Garrus followed up with a barrage of gunfire directed at its optics.

The YMIR was bringing up its heavy machine gun when Jack rounded the corner, dark energy surging off her as she leaped across the room and delivered an overload of biotic power directly into its head. The mech stumbled to its knees.

"Get out of there, it's going to blow!"

She didn't need to hear that twice, already on her way back. She had barely rounded the corner before the mech blew with the force of a Cain explosion. The shockwave rattled the walls and sent lockers flying everywhere.

When the dust cleared, there was a gaping hole in the floor.

"Well, there's our way down," said Garrus.

The trio made their way through, landing in a pool of dirty green water. Jack made a disgusted noise as they moved to get to dry land. "Shit, sewers. I've had my fill of this crap."

"This ain't new to you?"

"Before Purgatory, I escaped from a prison using its sewers. Never wanted to do that again."

"Garrus! We've got trouble!" called Tali. "The batarian retreat has reached the prison. Zaeed and Grunt shot down one of their gunships but they're going to overrun everything soon!"

"Take off now! Don't wait for us! We're about to grab Shepard!" He turned back to his team. "Double time, people! Legion, start scanning for Shepard anywhere down here."

The team hopped a railing and slid down a ramp where sewer water was flowing down. The small canal they landed in was much cleaner than the pool they had just been in, and smelled much fresher as well; Garrus could actually smell fresh water not too far away, the underground river had to be close.

"We have located Shepard-Commander, infrared and secondary frequency scanning has detected his cybernetics. There are two life-signs on the other side of this wall." The geth gestured toward the far end of the canal.

"Dammit, we don't have time to find the door in," said Garrus. I'm out of concussive rounds, too, used the last one on that mech." He looked at the ex-convict. "Jack, think you can punch down a wall?"

Biotic energy erupted around her. "No problem."

"Biotic-Jack, advise caution. There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. In addition – "

Legion was still speaking as she slammed her body against the central segment of the wall and _pushed_ against that one region…

The wall blew inwards as if it had been blown apart by a shaped charge. Time seemed to slow down as Jack tried to slow her charge, pieces of stone and concrete seemingly traveling at the same speed as her. In front of her, a chain seemed to magically wrap itself around the neck of an SIU trooper under his helmet, as the man behind the batarian suddenly forced his captor rushing forward. On instinct Jack threw her hands forward and shoved the batarian aside until something hit her hard on the head and she collapsed.

" – a punch to the face is also likely."

* * *

><p>The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was the barrel of a rifle. Her eyes narrowed.<p>

"What the fuck, Shepard? This is the thanks I get for busting you out?"

The rifle lowered as the Spectre looked around in amusement. "Jack? Didn't peg you the type to be taking orders from Garrus." He extended a hand to help her up.

"He has his annoyances, but it's not so bad," she grumbled.

"Good to see you too, Boss," said the turian as he clapped a hand on Shepard's shoulder. "By the way, this belongs to you." He drew a Phalanx pistol from his hip and handed it over.

"Yeah, thanks," said Shepard. "You too, Legion."

The synthetic ejected the heat sink from its Widow, having put a round into the SIU trooper's head. It nodded at the Commander.

"We've got Shepard," said Garrus into his comm. "We're ready for pickup."

"It's crazy out here," said Jacob's voice. "The Reaper is on top of the prison and it's tearing the batarian forces to shreds. I've got Team Two with me. Dagger Two-One is moving in to pick up you, they're going to blow a hole in the wall about twenty feet from your position, if I'm reading the schematics right."

"Copy that. Everyone stand by."

The four-man team started bolting out of the cell as soon as they felt the explosion that signified Dagger Two-One's missile blowing away the wall. As promised, the Mantis was hovering just outside of the hall, having blown a hole through the prison wall.

"Get ready to jump!" ordered Shepard.

Before they could take another step, a red beam lanced through Dagger Two-One, the gunship exploding into a fiery wreck.

"We just lost Dagger Two-One! What the hell was that?" demanded Garrus.

"The Reaper! It's here!" came Tali's voice. "You have to find another way out! Follow the water! The dock I saw on the security camera should be very close! The river leads out of the prison and away from the Reaper's location towards the _Normandy_! Hurry!"

"Other way, let's move!" called Garrus as the quartet began charging down the canal, following the flow of water.

The quartet barreled down the stream, following the twists and turns of the flow along with some guidance pointed out by Shepard, until they arrived at the aforementioned dock. A hole in the ceiling let sunlight in.

"Just one problem, Tali," said Garrus. "We don't have any boats here! And I seriously doubt Shepard's in any shape to go swimming!"

The entire complex rocked again as debris began to fall from the ceiling. Jacob's voice began sounding in everyone's headsets. "Team One, I've lost track of where you are, I can't see you, I can't see you - "

"What the hell, man?" snarled Jack. "Can't you just follow where we are?" Her tirade was cut short as a chunk of debris suddenly fell and smashed onto Legion's head. The geth went down, its emergency shutdown sequence having kicked in.

Shepard dashed across to the synthetic and pulled the debris off of it, picking up the geth's body. "Whatever you're going to do, Garrus, do it fast!"

"Jack!" said the turian. "Send a biotic wave up through that hole in the ceiling! Make it big and noticeable."

She quickly prepped a heavy warp blast and threw it upwards. The dark energy smashed through some of the debris, making the hole larger. A second heavy warp made it straight up to the sky.

"I saw that!" said Jacob. "I'm bringing the Mantis around now."

"Better make this a fast pickup," said Zaeed. "That Reaper's just about finished off all the blinks and it's going to turn to us next."

"What are you doing, quarian?" rumbled Grunt.

Tali had just finished rigging together an odd contraption: a ring connected to a cable with four smaller cables and hooks appended to it. "Migrant Fleet Marines use this to quickly extract if they are overrun by geth. Hopefully Shepard gets the idea." She threw the rig down.

The rig landed in the middle of the ground team. Immediately recognizing the device from his many talks with Tali down in Engineering, Shepard moved to clip on the cables to himself and Legion's motionless body. "Everybody hook in!" he ordered.

Garrus and Jack didn't need to be told twice. They followed suit and waited.

"All right, let's go! Get ready!" warned Jacob as he hit the thrusters on the Mantis and ascended.

Shepard heard a scrape and then his whole body jerked up as the gunship's momentum carried them into the sky. Three more scrapes and Legion, Jack, and Garrus were right behind him. Now in the open sky, he could see the Reaper, lumbering step by step toward the prison, its cannons destroying the last remnants of batarian resistance.

He felt the cable being reeled in and when close enough, pulled himself into the Mantis's interior. The other members of his team followed suit. They were alive: bruised, cut and weary, but alive.

Shepard raised a weary casual salute to the members of his team. "Thanks, all of you. For not leaving me behind."

Tali stepped forward and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Stubborn _bosh'tet_, why would you think we'd do that?" Then, to the non-surprise of pretty much everyone but Shepard, she leaned in and embraced him.

Garrus's mandibles twitched in the equivalent of a smirk. "She put it better than I ever could, Boss."

Zaeed let out a quick chortle at the statement. "Funny you should mention that, the thought did cross my mind after that business on Zorya. But then again, not much point in counting money if the Reapers are just going to blow everything to hell. Might as well salvage our best asset against them."

"I love you too, Zaeed," grumbled Shepard, the sarcasm bleeding through so thick that even Grunt and Jack had to laugh at that. Tali stepped away from him, pointedly looking away in a manner that he knew was supposed to hide a blush that nobody could even see anyway. Except for him.

"OK people, coming up on the _Normandy_", said Jacob over the intercom. "Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

><p><em>All right, folks, that is it for this story. Once again, I must admit I was inspired by a post by "supportgunner" and "Ligui" on the IGN Mass Effect boards shortly after Arrival came out about the Normandy crew busting Shepard out of prison Modern Warfare 2 style. With the GameInformer article having shed new light on Mass Effect 3 (which, by the way, is shaping up to be awesome), we now know this is not how the third game will begin, but it's fun to pretend.<em>

_Couple of notes I wanted to mention. Legion's side-splitting line about "a punch to the face" can be heard in the game if you hack him into your party early. It's what he says to Jack on Purgatory when she initially refuses to get on board the Normandy with everyone._

_I debated whether or not to throw in the little Shepard/Tali hint at the end, and decided to do so. This story has been in the works for nearly two weeks and I can't bring myself to care. It's always a source of cute humor anyway._

_I initially planned to have the escape sequence extended using the "Endgame" scenario from MW2 (hence the presence of the dock) but I could not get it to work in a believable manner and stopped trying to implement it. It doesn't work so well when your characters are the ones trying to get away instead of the ones trying to stop the enemy._


End file.
